Vietnam Cooking Holidays

Go Asia Travel offers you the best of the best deal to discover a beautiful country. During this cooking holiday in Vietnam, you will discover several locations where you will squid fish at night, visit caves and islands, cruise along Halong Bay on traditional Asian junk, and taste and create a Vietnamese feast on delicious seafood. Join Go Asia Travel during this holiday, relax, and taste the beauty that the Asian cuisine has to offer.

Styles

Accommodation

Maison D’Hanoi Boutique Hotel (two nights)

Maison D’Hanoi Hotels and Restaurant prides itself on having a collection of the most distinctive and luxurious accommodation in Hanoi city.

V'Spirit cruise (one night)

The one night cruise will take into the two recently built wooden junks managed by V'Spirit, and they will bring you a holiday to remember. Coated in a traditional design, the junk features deluxe cabins of contemporary style. Each cabin has large windows, private bathroom, and comfortable bed. Look nowhere further as you have found the right one to visit Halong Bay.

Nhi Nhi Hotel (three nights)

Just 30 kilometers from Da Nang International Airport (DAD), five minutes walking to Hoi An ancient town, located in the peaceful and quite place, Nhi Nhi hotel is an ideal address for staying and relaxing, shopping, and sightseeing nearby.

Elios Hotel Ho Chi Minh (three nights)

Elios Hotel is in the heart of the nightlife of Saigon and in front of the beautiful central park. Its next adjacent streets are full of backpacker bars, music, and shops.

Go Asia Travel Culinary Vacations in Vietnam Schedule

Day 1: Hanoi - Arrival

Upon arrival at the airport, your driver will pick you up and transfer you to a hotel located in Hanoi Old Quarter to check in. You will relax and overnight in Hanoi.

Day 2: Hanoi to Halong Bay (V’spirit Cruise)

08:00 Pick-up at hotel and start the scenic, three and a half hour drive to Halong Bay

12:30 Embark on V’Spirit Classic Cruise followed by a short cruise briefing

13:30 Savor a delectable lunch as V’Spirit Classic cruises among the limestone islands

15:00 Explore the amazing Sung Sot Cave

16:00 Cruise to Titov island, then go swim and relax at the beach of Titov or climb up to the top of the island for a panorama view of Halong Bay

17:00 Return to the main boat and continue cruising to the quiet area while enjoying the beautiful seascape on the way

17:30 Enjoy sunset party on sundeck and admire the best moments of the day when the sun starts to set

19:00 Dinner, socialize with other guests, take part in board games, fish for squid, or just laze around, then overnight on board

Day 3: Halong Bay to Hanoi

06:30 Start your day with Tai Chi exercises or a photo hunt

07:30 Breakfast

09:00 Kayak among the hidden areas of the bay around the Man’s Head Islet area

11:00 Head back to the harbor and watch the fruit carving demonstration and participate in the cooking class before enjoying a traditional Vietnamese lunch

12:15 Disembark V’Spirit Classic

12:30 Transfer back to Hanoi

17:00 Arrive back to hotel and then free time and overnight in Hanoi

Day 4: Hanoi family culinary art, evening flight to Danang, and transfer to Hoi An

At 8:45 a.m., your tour guide will pick you up at your hotel and take a walk to the outdoor wet market with the chef. You will be fascinated with every step by the color, noise, and the smells of the foods.

Stroll around to visit distinct food sections with their variety of herbs, vegetables, meat, and sea food which brings you very close to the simple life. It is very interesting to see and to learn how a local woman chooses and buys the best quality of the fresh food from numerous food stalls in the market.

With a rattan hand basket, your job is to buy some herbs and spices for the cooking class (herbs and spices are a very important part of authentic Vietnamese food). Raw food bought from the market will be washed and prepared quickly in the kitchen. Cooking methods and utensils will be placed properly on each table.

You will prepare and cook by yourself under the instruction of the chef from the beginning to the end, learning how to marinate and to spice will be the most crucial lesson. You will also enjoy decorating dishes with carrot flowers, lemon grass stems, banana leaves, and curved chili. The authentic magical sauce mixed from fish sauce, water, sugar, lime, chili, garlic, and herbs is very easy to make.

At 12:00 p.m., you will have lunch with what you have cooked and the chef will taste and give a reward to the best dish. At 1:00 p.m. after lunch, all of the recipes from the cooking class will be given to you as you leave.

Day 5: Half day cooking class tour

You start the day at 8:15 a.m. with a welcome drink at the cooking school at 98 Nguyen Thai Hoc Street, Hoi An Ancient Town which will be your meeting point. Visit Hoi An’s colourful market and experience the amazing sights, sounds, and aromas of this busy market. You will have the opportunity to interact with the local sellers and learn about all the ingredients to be used in the cooking lesson later.

You board the Red Bridge boat for a leisurely cruise for 25 minutes along the Hoi An River to the Red Bridge Cooking School. This is a chance to view local river life, so make sure your camera is handy.

On arrival, you explore the cooking school’s herb garden, before learning about some of Hoi An’s and Vietnam’s well-known dishes. The cooking lesson runs for about two hours and the Red Bridge chefs first demonstrate each dish before you prepare the same dish yourselves. Included in the class is a brief introduction to Vietnamese food carving (plate decoration). After the lesson, you sit down and eat what you have cooked.

Bring your swimsuit and after the cooking tour has finished, relax and enjoy the free use of the swimming pool. Towels and showers are provided. Catch your own taxi back to hotel after the tour and overnight in Hoi An.

Day 6: Hoi An - My Son Sanctuary tour half day

At 8:00 a.m., the bus and tour guide will pick you up at your hotel and by 8:30 a.m., you will be leaving Hoi An for My Son Holy Land. At 9:30 a.m., you will be arriving in My Son, the holy land surrounded by the marvelous mountains, 48 kilometers west of Hoi An. My Son was chosen as a religious center, built in the late fourth century under the Cham’s King Bhadravaman.

It is a huge religious complex with over 70 towers and temples of different architectures. Wander through the elaborate carvings and sculptures of the Cham people. Tourists are welcomed at the Old Tower of the Cham.

Spend two hours to enjoy and discover the beauty of ancient buildings at of the Champa Kingdom with your tour guide. At 12:00 p.m., you will be leaving My Son for Cau Lau boat station and taking a boat trip on Thu Bon river. You could visit the local people and feel the fresh air. You will have soft lunch on the boat and see the beautiful views along the river

At 1:30 p.m., the boat trip will finish at Bach Dang Boat station. Your driver will pick you up to local restaurant for lunch and then you will go back to your hotel after lunch and have free time for rest of the day.

Day 7: Hoi An to Danang airport to fly to Ho Chi Minh

After breakfast, you have free time to explore Hoi An town till departure time for flight to Ho Chi Minh city. Then, you will be picked up at Tan Son Nhat International Airport (SGN) to Ho Chi Minh and transfer to hotel for check in. You have free time to explore this active city by yourself.

You will have challenges on the garden such as to become real Vietnamese farmer wearing Vietnamese traditional hat and pick up a lot of herbs, spices, vegetables, and mushrooms from the garden.

The cooking challenge will be from 10:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. It will be hands-on cooking class with three dishes and one dessert. You will get to enjoy great healthy cooking tips, congratulation with nice certificate, recipes, souvenirs, and then have collect email which will update nice healthy recipes monthly.

You will be visiting the rice paper factory from 1:30 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. in order to understand the whole process to make rice paper. You will be surprised to see what are the main ingredient to make rice paper. You will see how they mix the flour with water, how the fresh rice paper comes out after steaming, how they handle it on the tray and how they dry it out, how they cut rice paper in the shape they want, and how they pack the rice paper in the packages before selling or exporting.

You will be visiting the rubber tree forest from 2:00 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. You will be exploring the big rubber tree forest and understand how the local people collect the latex.

Then, you will be visiting the Cu Chi Tunnels from 2:15 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. where you will be watching a presentation video, see the tunnels and discover how these tunnels were constructed, visiting Hoang Cam's smoke-less store, trying gun shooting with real bullets (fees not included), tasting boiled tapioca, and drinking hot tea. The journey will end at 5:30 p.m. in a hotel Ho Chi Minh City.

Day 9: Ho Chi Minh - Mekong Delta tour full day

At 8:00 a.m., you will be picked up from the hotel where you are staying. At 8:15 a.m., drive to Cai Be. You will have a short time to take photos at Tan An town over the flat rice fields. At 10:30 a.m., start the motorized boat to visit the Cai Be floating market, experience how people exchanging goods, fruit, and many other commodities on their vessels.

Visitors then roam into the small villages to visit the orchard and fruit plantation. Keep cruising to Vinh Long through small canals to enjoy the charm of the Upper Mekong Delta. Visit some handmade family business products such as the coconut candy mill and the crispy rice popcorn.

Arrive in Binh Hoa Phuoc village, the green pearl of Vinh Long town, where you can indulge yourself into nature. Have lunch with fresh river food served in the heart of the garden. Enjoy the southern Vietnamese traditional folk music. Take a nice walk through the bonsai garden in Vinh Long. Head home to Ho Chi Minh City and at 6:30 p.m., arrive in your hotel.

Day 10: Ho Chi Minh - Departure

Pick up at your hotel lobby and transfer to the airport for flight home.

Included excursions

Boat trip on the Hoi An River

Enjoy Ho Chi Minh cooking class

Explore the bay passing Ba Hang fishing village, Dog Islet, and more

Exploring the big rubber tree forest

Go through the Cu Chi tunnel

Guided tour of Hoi An’s colorful central market

Herb garden walk

Kayak among the hidden areas of the bay around the Man’s Head Islet area

Visit the Cai Be Floating market

Location

This vacation will take place in Vietnam, and you will visit Hanoi, Halong Bay, Hoi An, Danang, Hoi An, Ho Chi Minh City, and Mekong Delta.

Food

During your vacation, you will enjoy authentic Vietnamese dishes. Go Asia Travel provides you with good hygienic local food with set menu. There will be cooking demonstrations where you will get to cook your own Vietnamese cuisine!

The following meals are included:

Breakfast

Lunch

Dinner

The following dietary requirement(s) are served and/or catered for:

Regular (typically includes meat and fish)

If you have special dietary requirements it's a good idea to communicate it to the organiser when making a reservation